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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be a bit fed up with Royal Mail

61 replies

SisterFarAway · 15/04/2020 21:09

Over the last four weeks not a single company in the building my office is in has received any mail, no letters, leaflets, magazines, etc. nothing at all.
I contacted Royal Mail two weeks ago on Twitter only to be told that they are doing all they can to deliver mail as quickly as possible. Since, I have tried to reach them on phone, but gave up as I cannot waste "at least 30 minutes" on hold.
Today I contacted them on Twitter again only to get this response:

"Despite our best endeavours, it's likely that some areas of the country will experience a reduction in service levels due to Coronavirus-related absences."

Now, don't get me wrong, I fully understand that there are service disruptions, even expect them as almost nothing is running as normal at the moment. All courier companies we use currently have delays, it is just the "new normal".
But having no mail in four weeks is not "a reduction in service levels" it is no service at all.
Our company alone would have received somewhere in the region of 120-150 letters in that time frame. There are another 10 companies in the building, so there would probably be a whole sack just for our building. There are another 12 office buildings on our stretch of the road.
While most companies are WFH most of the time, mail still gets checked regularly and the landlord ensures the front doors and letter openings are accesible during normal office hours.
This is in Central London, so not like they have to make a detour somewhere remote to deliver.

Just to add, I only go into the office a few days a week for stuff that cannot be done remotely, everyone else in the company is WFH, so it would be me who has to deal with any mail. As we import a fair few shipments a week, we get letters from HMRC regarding duty and VAT all the time. These have to be checked against other papers. Even if we got our mail now, I would mean at least two extra "office days" as this is not something that can be done from home.

AIBU to expect a better response?

OP posts:
Fiddlersgreen · 15/04/2020 22:05

I'm sending important post by Special Delivery. It's not cheap but it definitely arrives within 48 hours, usually 24

I posted something by special delivery on 23rd March, paid £7.50ish, it arrived on the 30th

SisterFarAway · 15/04/2020 22:09

Unfortunately, for various reasons I am the only person who is able to go into the office as everyone else falls under a vulnerable group due to illness or age.
Not sure if I'd be able to go and pick it up from the delivery office. Will have to discuss with my office manager next time I speak to him.

It's just a stupid situation for everyone , and I also know for a fact that our "usual" postman is not on our round at the moment. I appreciate that these guys are worked off their feet and was/am just very surprised by the time frame.

OP posts:
Nottherealslimshady · 15/04/2020 22:14

Our office has also not recieved any mail. I'm panicking because we pay council tax bill by bill, and as we've not received any bills, I don't know if life missed any. It's just one of those things though and we just have to do our best. People are going to have to make allowances for those things.

EL8888 · 15/04/2020 22:14

YANBU a month is a really long time. Surely they could have at least sent someone round a couple of times. We haven’t had a delivery every day but we never did before this anyway!

AutumnCrow · 15/04/2020 22:15

Crikey, @Fiddlersgreen, that's a long time. I take it all back.

Nottherealslimshady · 15/04/2020 22:16

Well I say panicking, I'm slightly concerned tbh, I'm typically in the "it'll be rayte" camp.

StarsOnAMat · 15/04/2020 22:17

My neighbour manages the local sorting office and he says he’s trying to pick different streets every day to not get deliveries so that there isn’t a huge backlog of mail for some postcodes. I think that’s the fairest way to do it. We still see the postie about twice a week this way.

SisterFarAway · 15/04/2020 22:18

A lot of our mail is either HMRC or automatically sent bank statements and the likes from one of the accounts we have abroad. And there has been no change in account activity recently.
Unfortunately, some of the HMRC stuff also had deadlines attached to it.

OP posts:
WeKnowFrogsGoShaLaLaLaLa · 15/04/2020 22:19

The school I work in hasn't received any mail since the day we closed to everyone but key worker children, so nearly a month. I live reasonably closely and am getting some mail but not everyday. It's very random.

ToffeeYoghurt · 15/04/2020 22:21

They've been brilliant where I am (London but not central). I must be lucky and I'm very grateful for that. I rely on them to deliver my repeat meds. Expected delays but all good so far. I imagine it's dependent on how many staff are off sick or self isolating in your area.

The DWP assessments are still going ahead for people who haven't yet been assessed, I believe. Paper or phone assessments instead of face to face. Becca's right that means claimants are at risk of being left with nothing. In the past claimants continued to receive the benefit whilst appealing disability assessments. Now they have to start a new claim for UC.

NameChangerTheFirst · 15/04/2020 22:33

Our local postie posted this on our local Facebook page.

They're doing their best but have a huuuge backlog.

To be a bit fed up with Royal Mail
OnceUponAMidnightBeery · 15/04/2020 22:49

Mid Wales here and most of my post is arriving weeks late and has been for some time now. DH requested new bank card and PIN number, card showed up in 5 days, PIN took over 2 weeks.

We’ve just had an invoice dated 3rd March. Our local postie is still making the rounds most days, I presume it’s a problem with low staffing in the depots.

Council tax bill arrived on time though... 🤣😢😂

OnceUponAMidnightBeery · 15/04/2020 22:52

Can you check council tax online? Ours is still updating on the website even if we’re not getting actual paper/email bills? Might be worth a try

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 15/04/2020 22:55

Just have your company pay for a mail redirection to your home for the duration of the lockdown. No need to go into the office at all then.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 15/04/2020 22:56

NameChanger wow! Imagine if it started to rain

Aesopfable · 15/04/2020 23:43

That was my thought!

SouthsideOwl · 15/04/2020 23:46

Most mail is being prioritised, stop moaning fgs. What is it you're waiting on that's so important? You'll get it all eventually.

mummy21boy · 15/04/2020 23:57

Some countries have stopped their postal services... Royal Mail staff aren’t immune to the virus so they have staff shortages due to sickness plus a huge increase of ‘essential’ parcels due to people being home and ordering stuff online. YABU!

GlitterNails · 16/04/2020 00:24

NotEverythingIsBlackandwhite - if you were already in the system, they are still making decisions. I've been waiting since July for my PIP decision. It was already torture waiting for the letter each day, now even more so as we aren't getting mail. Not Royal Mail's fault, but it's just not fun. I was told my case was with a decision maker some weeks ago, but still haven't heard.

My friend also got the results of his PIP assessment this week - he went from full rate to zero points with a severe incurable degenerative condition. Not only that his carer lost her allowance too, so their household income has just been utterly slashed. And at a time he can't get anywhere to get help like CAB, and also because losing PIP strangely doesn't cure you of your disability - he can't even get out to post an appeal. He also can't get more medical evidence because his GP are only seeing urgent illnesses.

He phoned the DWP as they have statements on their website saying they are keeping benefits going and will be extending deadlines, etc. He was told by a decision maker his case had been assessed incorrectly (there was many, many contradictions and things that didn't make sense) but there was nothing he could do and he has to wait for the mandatory reconsideration with no income, oh and they are short staffed so they are taking a few months at the moment.

Interesting the decision maker also said when this first started the government sent a memo around the DWP saying not to stop people's PIP currently. They followed it shortly afterwards saying to carry on as usual.

So Tory policy during a pandemic is still fuck the disabled as usual.

JanMeyer · 16/04/2020 00:45

Interesting the decision maker also said when this first started the government sent a memo around the DWP saying not to stop people's PIP currently. They followed it shortly afterwards saying to carry on as usual. So Tory policy during a pandemic is still fuck the disabled as usual.

Well i guess that answers the question of whether the tories will become more sympathetic to sick and disabled people because of all this. I've seen a few discussions about that sort of thing the past few days. Me personally i expected them to carry on with their "fuck the disabled" policies. Depressed but not surprised that i was right. How depressing it is to know that even during a global pandemic they still have time to give the disabled another good kicking

AutumnCrow · 16/04/2020 09:36

The DWP assessments are still going ahead for people who haven't yet been assessed, I believe. Paper or phone assessments instead of face to face. Becca's right that means claimants are at risk of being left with nothing.

It's certainly the case that the DWP are sticking to rigid deadline dates for the submission of paper forms only (e.g. UC50 and PIP2). The DWP has no facility for online submissions, not even via emails, not even during a pandemic.

So yes, there will be more PIP horror stories, at a time of depleted staff, backlogs, and tribunals under pressure (if they're even sitting?)

Umnoway · 16/04/2020 09:41

YANBU. They’re obviously trying their best and their work is fully appreciated but it is making life that bit more shit having to wait forever for basic post.

BanjoStarz · 16/04/2020 09:56

YANBU it’s not like you’ve been waiting a week for some random purchase from Amazon.

Over a month for any business mail at all is completely unacceptable, I would imagine there’s a problem you’ve not been told about, even with delays you should be seeing something (COVID-19 doesn’t seem to have stopped the junk mail round here)

I think it would be worth persevering with contacting Royal Mail though, If there’s no one physically at the office building they may have taken it upon themselves to decide not to deliver to the premises at all?

Fallsballs · 16/04/2020 10:05

YANBU. I don’t think some people realise the knock on effect of not having mail. It’s not being a spoilt insensitive eejit who wants her Diptique candle on time - it’s to do with deadlines set by other agencies.
If you are self isolating the post is important, also it’s impossible to contact a lot of services via phone and email queries have been disabled on some sites. I got a signed for 1st class letter delivered yesterday which was posted on the 7th in the main post office in town.
Not great.

Worried74 · 16/04/2020 15:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.